"The Jazz Composers' Workshop album, originally released on Savoy in 1956, is made up of two sessions -- recorded on 31 October 1954 (side A and tracks 5 and 6 on side B), and 30 January 1955 (tracks 1-4 on side B) -- that were part of Mingus' influential Jazz Composers' Workshop, a forum intended to give young jazz composers the opportunity to play and record their own compositions. The 1954 session -- a sextet line-up featuring Charles Mingus (bass), John La Porta (clarinet and alto sax), Teo Macero (tenor and baritone sax), George Barrow (tenor and baritone sax), Mal Waldron (piano) and Rudy Nichols (drums) -- was made up entirely of Mingus originals, with the exception of the 1925 standard 'Tea For Two.' Mingus' 'Body and Soul,' found here, did not appear on the original LP. The 1955 date -- a quartet session led by pianist Wally Cirillo, and featuring Mingus on bass, tenor-saxophonist Teo Macero, and drummer Kenny Clarke -- was actually intended as a showcase for four compositions by Cirillo, and featured one of the first, if not the first, jazz composition to be based on a 12-tone row, 'Transeason.'" Comes on 180 gram vinyl.